Posts Tagged ‘Cleaning surgical instruments’

Surgical instruments cannot be properly sterilized without being properly cleaned. Until now, the only way to verify the performance of your automated washer was by visually inspecting the instruments after a completed cycle. But with the VERIFY™ All Clean Test Washer Holder and Indicator you can effectively monitor your automated washer and instrument cleaning chemistry functionality.

The VERIFY™ All Clean Test Washer Holder and Indicator is carefully designed to clean difficult surfaces of surgical instruments. The mesh design of the holder represents a typical challenge that relies on the same mechanical and chemical activity.

The VERIFY™ All Clean Test Washer Indicator also includes two sources of protein, lipids and polysaccharides to mimic common challenging test soils.

In the event you have a failure, the failure pattern on the washer indicator can assist in diagnosing the root cause of the washer’s failure.

Contact us today to learn more about the the VERIFY™ All Clean Test Washer Indicator.

One of the most effective ways to keep your surgical instruments in excellent condition is to lubricate them after every cleaning.

Proper lubrication keeps the moving parts of instruments from rubbing and scraping, preventing dulling and stain on joints.

Moving parts on instruments should be lubricated regularly. Before autoclaving, lubricate all instruments that have moving parts.

It is not recommended to use a lubricate bath because the container of the lubricant solution may contain certain bacteria from the previous instruments. A lubricant spray is advised. Sprays are safer, cost less and take up less counter space.

Spectrum Surgical is pleased to introduce its newly designed Spectra-Moist® EZ, a ready-to-use instrument wetting agent and enzymatic pre-cleaning gel.

The solution for cleaning surgical instrument prevents blood from drying on surgical instruments and effectively begins the cleaning process by breaking down blood and bioburden on contact.

Multi-tiered enzymatic action dissolves blood, fats, protein, promotes easier and faster processing, and reduces instrument staining and damage. Spectra-Moist® EZ features a neutral pH and will not interfere with other detergents or enzymatic cleaners.

Cases similar to John Harrison are occurring more often than they should.

Harrison and six other patients from a Texas hospital contracted potentially lethal infections due to dirty instruments that were used during a surgical procedure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated Harrison’s case and found bacteria passed through the sterilization process on an arthroscopic shaver which infected his arm.

Other investigations in hospitals across the country have revealed the use of other dirty surgical instruments that have led to infection outbreaks.

The departments responsible for cleaning and reassembling surgical instruments are typically found in hospital basements and are known as sterile processing.

According to the Center for Public Integrity report, these workers feel more like they are doing an unrecognized service with pressure from nurses and surgical staff to make the sterilization process fast. The faster the instruments make it to the operating rooms, the more surgical procedures.

New research also found that too often surgical instruments are leaving the sterilization department with hidden blood, tissue and other debris still on the instruments.

Currently, New Jersey is the only state that requires hospital sterilization workers to go through training.

Regulations in hospitals need to be tighter and better communicated between sterilization department and operating room.